Kentland Dome: Geologic Enigma (GM-16)
Nestled below the flat, placid farmlands of northwestern Indiana lies one
of Indiana's strangest geologic features. A small elliptical area near
Kentland in Newton County contains highly deformed rocks that bespeak of
incredible forces so great that layers of rock normally in a horizontal
position 1,800 feet below the surface are folded and fractured and are now
exposed at the surface in a nearly vertical position.

Since the 1880's,
geologists have known about the Kentland structure. Many attempts have
been made to explain its origin. One theory is that a meteorite ht the
earth and caused a large crater like those on the moon, while another is
that trapped gases from deeply buried vulcanism caused the faulting.
Geologic evidence does not yet allow conclusion about the origin of the
Kentland structure, so it continues to remain an enigma.